Mortred, the Phantom Assassin, is a meleeagilityhero fitting the role of hard carry. Mortred is best-known, and infamous for, her ability to inflict staggering damage with single strikes. Her abilities synergize supremely well with each other, rendering her an extremely formidable foe once she has acquired the items she requires. She is a very farm-dependent melee Hero, but she farms creeps with much more ease than many of her fellow carries, using her Stifling Dagger for last hitting. Besides eliminating the weakness most melee Heroes have in their farming, her second ability, Phantom Strike, acts as both her escape and initiate, while Blur gives her an edge against other Heroes that depend on their physical attacks by evading them; giving her partial damage immunity to many carries. Her ultimate, the strongest critical strike in the game, is what connects Mortred with four-digit damage and what gives her a place amongst the very best support killers in the late game, since they usually fall instantly from the divine strike her ultimate provides. Mobile and able to fight back nearly every enemy that dares to face her, Mortred is a formidable foe that should never be underestimated, and with appropriate item choices and a few kills, she can snowball out of control and become next to impossible to stop.

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Through a process of divination, children are selected for upbringing by the Sisters of the Veil, an order that considers assassination a sacred part of the natural order. The Veiled Sisters identify targets through meditation and oracular utterances. They accept no contracts, and never seem to pursue targets for political or mercenary reasons. Their killings bear no relation to any recognizable agenda, and can seem to be completely random: A figure of great power is no more likely to be eliminated than a peasant or a well digger. Whatever pattern the killings may contain, it is known only to them. They treat their victims as sacrifices, and death at their hand is considered an honor. Raised with no identity except that of their order, any Phantom Assassin can take the place of any other; their number is not known. Perhaps there are many, perhaps there are few. Nothing is known of what lies under the Phantom Veil. Except that this one, from time to time, when none are near enough to hear, is known to stir her veils with the forbidden whisper of her own name: Mortred.

Quelling Blade increases Phantom Assassin's farming ability in the early game. Being able to last-hit more easily and kill neutral camps faster allows her to farm the items she needs to start becoming effective in a match.

Boots of Speed are important to obtain early on. Phantom Assassin must be able to easily move in and out of range to last-hit, as well as chase or escape as needed without having to rely as much on Phantom Strike.

Magic Wand can greatly improve Phantom Assassin's survivability and effectiveness in the early game. It provides a small amount of attributes and tremendous charge storage for burst health and mana regen, both of which are crucial on an agility hero with low strength and intelligence.

Mid game:

Power Treads boost Phantom Assassin's combat effectiveness and survivability greatly with added agility and attack speed. She can attribute switch to strength for more health, or intelligence for using spells, particularly for the repeated casting of Stifling Dagger.

Battle Fury allows Phantom Assassin to secure her ability to farm into the late game. The damage and cleave allow her to easily clear creeps, whether it is for farming or pushing/counter-pushing, while the health and mana regen ensure that she can always maintain her health and mana pools while farming.

Desolator allows Phantom Assassin to apply the armor debuff from long range with Stifling Dagger, softening up multiple targets for her team and for her own attacks. The damage boost also greatly improves the killing power of Coup de Grace, particularly when combined with the armor reduction on enemies that Phantom Assassin jumps on.

Abyssal Blade can be crucial for giving Phantom Assassin the lockdown and damage she needs to quickly eliminate key opponents in fights. The bash gives her a chance to stun an enemy after jumping on them with Phantom Strike, while the active allows her to instantly hard-disable any foe through spell immunity, long enough to bring them down with Coup de Grace. It also increases her survivability giving bonus health and health regeneration and blocking 40 damage from incoming attacks.

Satanic improves Phantom Assassin's survivability in team fights, allowing her to quickly refill health with Coup de Grace crits.

Situational items:

Mask of Madness gives high attack speed and a source of lifesteal. Phantom Assassin's survivability is based on evasion instead of armor and her damage comes from a passive ability, partially offsetting the debuff, but not being able to use Stifling Dagger or Phantom Strike can be costly when trying to chase or flee, making this item a dangerous purchase.

Butterfly greatly boosts Phantom Assassin's damage output, as well as providing additional evasion. While stacking it alongside Blur runs the risk of having both nullified by the enemy building Monkey King Bar, purchasing a Butterfly can punish certain lineups by forcing their heroes to purchase Monkey King Bar over a different item that synergizes better with their strengths.

Assault Cuirass greatly increases Phantom Assassin's damage output through more attack speed as well as the enemy armor reduction aura. The improved armor also greatly increases her survivability against physical damage, and the aura helps give teammates more armor and attack speed as well, which can be very useful depending on team composition.

Nullifier gives damage boost and the active ability that dispels the enemy and mutes them (disabling several defensive items) as well as greatly slowing them for a long duration (synergies perfectly with Phantom Strike and Stifling Dagger combo).

Sange and Yasha is a situationally powerful mid-game item that is easy to farm and allows Phantom Assassin to begin participating in team fights earlier. The agility and strength-based bonuses give her more damage output and health, while the movement speed makes her far more mobile, allowing her to chase and escape far more easily.

Eye of Skadi can boost Phantom Assassin's combat effectiveness. It grants attributes across the board, giving Phantom Assassin more health, mana, and base damage. The Cold Attack passive allows Phantom Assassin to slow enemies with her attacks and Stifling Dagger, reducing their movement speed and preventing them from easily escaping her.

Of all the assassins raised by the Sisters of the Veil, only one is known by name: Mortred. Through meditation and prophecy, the order identifies the next target to die at her hands. Attacks miss against the Phantom Assassin as she Blurs into her surroundings, traversing undetected across the land to catch her victims unawares. She opens the encounter with a Stifling Dagger, thrown from the shadows, then leaps upon the crippled target to deliver a flurry of Phantom Strikes. Mortred ends the struggle with a decisive Coup de Grace, leaving behind only the blood-splattered ground as testament to her efficiency.

Mortred's name is derived from Mordred, a character in the Arthurian legend who betrayed and fought King Arthur at the Battle of Camalann.

"Coup de grâce" is a French term (pronounced "koo duh gras" [the duh is short and should not be emphasised]) which literally means "blow of mercy", and refers to the killing blow of a wounded person or animal, friendly or not, to end their suffering. The phrase originates from medieval times, specifically Knights (see above - Knights of the Round Table). When a combatant was gravely injured (in battle, duels, jousting, etc...) but not killed; a coup de grâce was often, although not always, performed. Traditionally a rondel dagger was used as this could make a small puncture in breastplate and was long enough to reach the heart.

Mortred's level-up line Link▶️ "I'm an immaterial girl!" is probably a reference to the song Material Girl performed by Madonna.

In DotA: Allstars, Blur caused Mortred to become transparent to the enemy, scaling with levels and making her nearly invisible and untargetable to inexperienced players, thus her title "Phantom Assassin". This aspect of the ability is replicated to a limited degree with Blur's active component in Dota 2.

Mortred's idle animation is a typical fencing stance, with perpendicular feet, one arm extended forth and the other one folded and up in the air. However, her weapon is wielded not with the extended arm, but with the arm at rest. There are treatises, at least for the Italian school of fencing, which do show an extended arm but this is exclusively used when wielding a rapier or other single-handed thrusting swords.

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